“Before we go to break, I just want to say something really, really quickly to you. A few weeks ago, as many people know, I conducted an interview with pastor Mark Driscoll. And I received lots of feedback on that interview, both positive and negative, but I feel now that in retrospect, I should have conducted myself in a better way. I now realize the interview should not have occurred at all. I should have contacted Tyndale House directly to alert them to the plagiarism issue. And I never should have brought it to the attention of listeners publicly. So I would like to apologize to all of you and to Mark Driscoll for how I behaved. I am sorry.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate that the story would go viral online the way it did and creating such dissension with the Christian community was never my aim. And so in an effort to right things as best as I can, I have now removed all of the materials related to the interview off my website, and also off my social media.”

Warren Throckmorton, writing on his blog at Patheos.com, noted that Mefferd did not seem to indicate a specific incident that triggered her change of mind and surprising apology. Also, commenting on the low impact that he thinks Mefferd’s apology might have, Throckmorton stated “It strikes me that the horse is already out of the barn on this.”

What do you think motivated Janet Mefferd’s surprising retraction and apology? Does it change how you view the situation?